BW Online | March 27, 2000 | An Entrepreneur Confronts His Inner Tyrant

Headlines
Columns

Tax Adviser
Management
Finance
Your Money
Technology
Staff & Benefits
Going Global

Small Business Guide

PREMIUM CONTENT MBA Insider

BW MAGAZINE Get Four Free Issues Subscribe Customer Service

ONLINE FEATURES Book Reviews BW Video Columnists Interactive Gallery Newsletters Past Covers Philanthropy Podcasts Special Reports BLOGS The Auto Beat Byte of the Apple Europe Insight Eye on Asia Getting In Investing Insights The New Entrepreneur NEXT: Innovation Tools & Trends On Media Technology at Work The Tech Beat Traveler's Check TECHNOLOGY Product Reviews Tech Stats Hands On AUTOS Home Page Auto Reviews Car Care & Safety INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip FINANCE Investing: Europe Annual Reports Bloomberg BW50 SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth Companies: 2008 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs Rankings & Profiles

BW EXTRAS BW Digital BW Mobile Podcasts RSS

RSS Feeds

Reprints/ Permissions Conferences

MARCH 27, 2000

DEAR DIARY
By George Giokas

An Entrepreneur Confronts His Inner Tyrant
Two blowups remind him of why he stopped working for others

STORY TOOLS

Search for business contacts:

PREMIUM SEARCH
Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts

Does the boss always have to be nice? As the boss, aka the owner of my own business, Staffwriters Plus, I struggle with that question as the business grows, I hire more people, and come under more pressure.

In January, we hired a new recruiter. She's a very capable, professional, and friendly young woman with the right credentials. She really took a chance when she joined my editorial staffing agency because she was quite marketable. Last week, she made her first placement, and we were all very happy for her. She's now an established member of the company (which has five people), and proving herself nicely.

Our relationship has been great -- so far. Then, several weeks ago, she came into my office to say that a writer she had found was increasingly nettlesome to work with.

Without thinking, I raised my voice and barked out: "These [expletive deleted] writers. They just shoot themselves in the foot. I don't think we should use him again."

PERSONAL VS. PROFESSIONAL. I could tell that I scared her because she stiffened, and her voice quivered when she asked a follow-up question. I immediately realized why. She was new to the company, and she'd brought in a writer who was now a problem. Also, she had seen a preview of how angry I can get the week before. I guess she didn't expect to see it turned on her without warning.

Afterward, I felt badly. She was doing her job. I jumped on her without a good, professional reason. I had a good, personal explanation for why I was so short-tempered. I was whipped from working all weekend.

I'm usually extremely calm and easygoing -- sometimes to a fault. Until recently, I think I've blown up twice in the five years I've been in business. But I've had only one week off the entire time -- I don't even take weekends off. It's starting to catch up with me.

The previous blowup that the recruiter witnessed was a culmination of a few things. Andy, my operations manager, had been out for two days the week before that incident, so I had some extra things to handle. That should have been fine. However, by mid-afternoon, the work was piling up. Then, a payroll problem came up. Not having worked much with our new payroll system, I didn't want to screw it up. So I called Andy. For the first time that I could remember, he had turned his cell phone off.

The payroll problem meant I couldn't tend to some other necessary work. I lost it. I shot a pen across the room at the payroll-system monitor. I pounded the desk and launched into a stream of Greek and English epithets. The entire office must have heard me.

LOSING RESPECT. After that incident, the recruiter told me that she had heard me rant but was afraid to come in and see what was wrong. I told her I was very upset (not in those words) because I had lost three hours to the problem and couldn't reach Andy for help. I couldn't even blow off steam to him.

That day too, I regretted losing my cool. The problem got solved. As the boss, I should set the standards. Sure people get mad. Nothing gets solved without a cool head, though. I broke one of my rules. When I decided to leave the corporate world, I had two defining moments involving bosses who lost it in front of me for no good reason. I remember those incidents pretty well. Even more vividly, I remember losing respect for those people.

The incident with the recruiter proved to be benign. I thought the flare-up was more serious than it proved to be. (I'm usually pretty hard on myself.) The recruiter seemed none the worse for wear, and things are back to normal. I'm my usual charming self again.

Still, the incident brought me up short. You can't lead by fear, only example.

George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com and you can e-mail him at george@staffwriters.com